The present invention relates to a game board and the associated equipment necessary for playing a game thereon. In particular, the equipment is adapted for playing a variation of the game of checkers. Checkers, although an enjoyable parlor game, tends to become unduly repetitious due to the fixed rules of the game and layout of the board. This is particularly so when the same players regularly oppose each other. Another drawback of checkers is that the level of strategy involved and the opportunities for applying strategy are severely limited.
Variations on checker-type games are known, as for example, U.S. Pat. No. 1,400,520 to Bugenhagen. In this game a fixed obstacle is printed on a checkerboard. This obstacle or cruciform permits a piece landing on a square adjacent the cruciform to move to any other square adjacent to the cruciform. The equipment permits no possibility of varying the arrangement for each new game.
In U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,526,017 to Searle and 2,162,876 to Barton, various barrier type games are disclosed. In Barton, removable tiles are utilized to fit over discrete areas of the game board. As the game progresses, increasing numbers of barriers are placed on the game board with the object of completely boxing in one player. In Searle, immovable preprinted L-shaped barriers are utilized to disrupt the movement of playing pieces on an oversized playing board. See also U.S. Pat. No. 3,820,791 assigned to the present assignee and directed to a vector tile game.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a variation of the game of checkers in which the game board is varied before each game so that interest in the game is maintained at a higher level and for a longer period of time.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a variation of the game of checkers introducing an additional element for controlling the moves of the playing pieces whereby the permissible moves are different for each game.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a variation of the game of checkers wherein the placement of direction limiting tiles on the game board involves the use of strategy and subsequent movement of playing pieces onto these tiles requires deeper insight into the ramifications thereof than is required in a checkers game.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the concluding portion of the specification.